Master Builder of the Year | National 2016, 2019 | Victoria 2016, 2017, 2019
NEWS | Victoria

Kane celebrates architectural excellence

2nd July, 2018

Five projects delivered by Kane Constructions were recognised across six categories at the 2018 Victorian Architecture Awards ceremony held in Melbourne on Friday evening. 

The Deakin University Burwood Link designed by Watson Architecture and Design received a prize in the Urban Design category, the Geoff Handbury Science and Technology Hub, Melbourne Grammar School project by Denton Corker Marshall, took home an Educational Architecture Award, the GMHBA Stadium Redevelopment designed by Populous received a commendation in the Commercial Architecture category, the House on the Coast project by Sean Godsell Architects received an award in the Residential Architecture – Houses (New) category and the Victorian College of the Arts ‘The Stables’ project designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects was awarded across three categories; Educational Architecture, Heritage Architecture, and Interior Architecture. 

Kane Constructions’ Joint Managing Directors Tristan Forster and Richard Frisina congratulated the award recipients on behalf of the company and the Kane teams who worked on the projects.  

“Our teams thoroughly enjoyed working on these projects,” Mr Forster said. “The outcomes speak for themselves.” 

The Burwood Link is a 245m pedestrian crossing over the Gardiners Creek reserve between the Burwood Highway and Elgar Road precincts of the Deakin University campus in Burwood. The new bridge has been designed to be a lighter, narrower, less obtrusive, more environmentally friendly and more accessible crossing with a 'natural rusted steel look' and glazed sides.

The Burwood Link replaces more than 43,000 pedestrian trips per week across an existing small bridge, improving accessibility, safety and convenience to users of the University’s facilities and the park, and significantly reduces the impact on the environment and vegetation. 

Kane built the Burwood Link within a live operational site with limited disruption. This included the use of a 600-tonne crane to install the bridge sections with minimal impact to operations, safety and the environment.

The $30 million Geoff Handbury Science and Technology Hub at Melbourne Grammar School, is a simple, singular sculptural structure. The construction of the new five level Science and Technology Hub replaced an existing science building.

Designed by architects, Denton Corker Marshall, the building features a curved, solid aluminium façade, a five-story internal atrium, and high end finishes and detailing. Construction required a huge amount of coordination and quality control, from exposed precast slab panels with cast-in services, curved and raking structural steel and over 12,000 façade panels fabricated off-site to specific sizes and radiuses.

The $79M GMHBA Stadium Redevelopment achieved Practical Completion in May 2017. Kane was initially engaged for the ECI stage and following this, successfully delivered an early works package prior to the appointment of the main works contract. 

The ageing Brownlow and Jennings Stands have been replaced with a new grandstand, lifting the iconic stadium's capacity to 36,000. The new stand features a large function room, media and broadcasting areas, football department facilities and a social club for patrons on match days.

The Stage 4 redevelopment also includes the 'Sunrise Centre', providing world-class rehabilitation services to anyone living with a disability or recovering from an injury or illness in the region.

The project created 90 jobs during construction and a further 320 have been employed since Stage 4 has been completed.

The House on the Coast project designed by Sean Godsell Architects included the construction of an idyllic beach front residential dwelling on a challenging greenfield site. The project consists of a concrete and steel cantilevered 'L' shaped structure with a timber batten double skin façade, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, gallery, pool, carport, terrace, communal kitchen, dining and living space.

This is the fifth project Kane have delivered with Sean Godsell Architects. Previous projects include the inaugural MPavilion 2014 project and Peninsula House on the Mornington Peninsula.

The VCA Police Stables project involved the restoration of the former Victoria Police mounted branch horse stables to provide new accommodation for The Victorian College of Arts (VCA). Marked to be the latest contribution to Melbourne, Southbank's arts precinct, the redevelopment offers a versatile teaching and exhibition space to serve the arts community at large. 

Numerous plan studies found opportunities within the buildings existing spatial arrangement - making for a smooth transition from equine to aesthete and allowing the original fabric to remain largely unaltered. A string of restoration works to the buildings envelope provides a historic reading of original fabric, something not seen since the early 20th century.

The building provides under-graduate and graduate studio space for wall based practices such as painting and drawing. The building delivers a range of adaptable and flexible installation, exhibition and performance spaces including academic, administration offices and front of house spaces. 

Critical components of the design include conserving the site’s cultural and built heritage under Heritage Victoria’s guidance, incorporating ESD systems and design strategies to meet The University of Melbourne’s campus-wide sustainability targets and to achieve a 5-star Green Star Design & As-built rating.

Winners will now progress to the National Architecture Awards to be announced in November. 

Kane Constructions achieved National Commercial Master Builder of the Year status for two years running in 2016 and 2017. Kane is a privately owned commercial construction company active in all sectors of the industry. With turnover in excess of $800 million and over 450 full time employees, the company operates throughout the east coast of Australia and overseas from offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.